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The most severe meteorological droughts were in the years 1876, 1899, 1918, 1965, and 2000, while the five worst hydrological droughts occurred in the years 1876, 1899, 1918, 1965, and 2000. The drought of 1899 can be classified as meteorological as well as hydrological and was the most severe documented drought India has ever experienced to date.
India experiences an average precipitation of 1,170 millimetres (46 in) per year, or about 4,000 cubic kilometres (960 cu mi) of rains annually or about 1,720 cubic metres (61,000 cu ft) of fresh water per person every year. [1] India accounts for 18% of the world's population and about 4% of the world's water resources.
Map of India with Maharashtra State in red. In January 2013, the Indian government reported that 7,896 villages in Maharashtra were affected by drought. [2] In a region near the Bhima River in Maharashtra, the years leading up to the drought in 2013 recorded below average annual rainfall: in 2011, slightly below average, and in 2012, the lowest since 2003.
The drought of 1979–1980 in West Bengal was the next major drought and caused a 17% decline in food production with a shortfall of 13.5 million tonnes of food grain. Stored food stocks were leveraged by the government, and there was no net import of food grains. The drought was relatively unknown outside of India. [146]
The Great Famine of 1876–1878 was a famine in India under British Crown rule. It began in 1876 after an intense drought resulted in crop failure in the Deccan Plateau. [1] It affected south and Southwestern India—the British-administered presidencies of Madras and Bombay, and the princely states of Mysore and Hyderabad—for a
India has only 4/100% of the world's fresh water resources despite a population of over 1.4 billion people. [2] In addition to the disproportionate availability of freshwater, water scarcity in India also results from drying up of rivers and their reservoirs in the summer months, right before the onset of the monsoons throughout
Map of India (1765) shows Oudh, the Doab (the region in present-day Uttar Pradesh between the Ganges and Jumna rivers), Rohilkhand, the Delhi territories, eastern Punjab, Rajputana and Kashmir, all affected by the Chalisa famine.
Map of the British Indian Empire (1909), showing the different provinces and native states.The Central Provinces and Berar, Bombay Presidency, Ajmer-Merwara, and the Hissar district of the Punjab were especially hard-hit by the famine of 1899–1900.